Survey finds fewer employers organising flower viewing outings for employees
Six in 10 employees in Japan don't want to participate in company-wide hanami parties as they set stronger work-life boundaries, according to reports.
The Mainichi reported last week research from Job Soken, the research arm of Tokyo-based career consultancy Laibo Inc., over employees' sentiments over hanami parties.
Hanami is the tradition of flower viewing in Japan, particularly the practice of enjoying cherry blossoms.
Organisations have long organised cherry blossom-viewing events for their workforce - but the latest survey from Job Soken among 606 people indicates that its popularity may be waning.
The survey found that 60% don't want to participate in such events, with 51.4% citing they want to "prioritise" their private life, The Mainichi reported.
Another 47.6% said they don't want to use their day off, while 40.5% said they are tired of paying attention to others.
"Many working people are tired of interacting with others at work through hanami," said Masakazu Hori, head of Laibo's communication strategy department, as quoted by The Mainichi.
The resistance to such employer-initiated parties come as the survey found that approximately 60% also consider such events as a form of work, according to the report.
Employees in their 40s were most likely to avoid hanami parties at work, as 69.5% of them said they don't want to participate in them.
Six in 10 employees in their 30s (60.5%) and in their 50s (60.3%) also said they don't want to participate in hanami parties.
Younger employees, on the other hand, are more likely to feel enthusiastic over such events, after only 55.3% of them said they don't want to participate in hanami parties.
On the future of hanami parties, the report found that only 11.3% of the respondents said they would carry out such events.
This is a further decline from the 13.1% in 2023, and much lower than the 49.3% in 2019 before the pandemic, The Mainichi reported.
Flowering and full bloom dates in Japan have been estimated to begin in late March, according to the Japan Meteorological Corporation's forecast.
